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Blood, gore ... and a purpose
The evening of Saturday the 13th saw this writer alight the Szabist campus, only to bump into Zeeshan Shah Khan, the chief instigator and saeko (captain) of the Second Anime Convention. Finding our way into the auditorium, the function, in true Pakistani spirit started at 6 p.m. — an hour later than what was announced.
Although I haven’t been to the first Anime Convention, the atmosphere looked remarkably mature and convincing than anticipated. It already seemed that the convention would be handled with professional grace. And after only a few initial technical hiccups, the event was up and running with almost clinical meticulousness, as the members of the organising committee ducked under stationery cameras manning the keyboard, PC and projector.
Two days prior to the event, Zeeshan discussed his vision for the convention — this year’s event would be fine tuned to gore and blood, signifying Metal Seinen’s hopes of targeting a more mature audience. Metal Seinen is Zeeshan’s newly founded group which is enthusiastic about launching locally made products within the boundaries of Anime and Manga (Seinen signifies ‘youth’, ranging between 18 to 30-year-olds, and Metal is the form of music most of the Anime-addicts are into).
At the convention, if nothing else, Zeeshan did deliver what he promised — a gore-filled experience. Blood and guts flying all over the screen, people being slashed by razor-edged swords, gigantic robots flying off amid bomb blasts and youths disintegrating before our eyes. But for the avid Anime viewers, the experience isn’t infrequent
At the convention, if nothing else, Zeeshan did deliver what he promised — a gore-filled experience. Blood and guts flying all over the screen, people being slashed by razor-edged swords, gigantic robots flying off amid bomb blasts and youths disintegrating before our eyes. But for the avid Anime viewers, the experience isn’t infrequent.After a brief introduction about the contents of the evening (almost all topics in the presentation had accompanying footage), Zeeshan passed the torch to Nabeel Imam and Saad Akhter, key members of the musical group Remnants of the Storm, who performed two tracks from a popular on-going series titled Naruto. In their brief interval, Nabeel flashed his idiosyncratic flair while Saad held an authentic aura of cool, showing their familiarity with the material.
An underplayed jib regarding a certain shop which sells Anime followed the short concert (selling unlicensed Anime is considered a hostile, despicable crime). Anime trading wasn’t supported by Metal Seinen this year, but there were no bans on it either which made it all the more interesting when we spotted Anime trading of Fansubbed videos.
Amaan Khan Sherwani gave an enlightening, thoroughly researched analysis of Fansubs in his oratory. Fansubs refers to Anime titles which are subtitled by local groups in their native language (or more commonly in English). A fan-made translation of a series is often available in a turn-around time of three or four days after the episode airs in Japan; however, this isn’t considered piracy. Fansubbing isn’t made for profit and its principal is to share the content, rather then selling it. A strict rule applies –– Fansub groups abandon sharing a product after the title gets licensed in their native country. There has always been a healthy debate over the legitimacy of the subject and its ethical consequences, but most people who are currently involved in Anime can, and in most cases prefer, getting Anime titles by way of Fansub groups. Besides, 99 percent Anime titles in Pakistan arrive through downloading.During the next interval, the audience was introduced to the basics of Manga and Anime, the changes in its style during the evolving decades and an overview of its business. Manga, which literally means ‘random pictures’ can commonly be identified as Japanese comic-books; while Japanese animation is called Anime.
In his talk about the business aspect of Anime production, Zeeshan explained how outsourcing has been harmful to the Japanese industry. As always, outsourcing animation production to more money-friendly markets helps save production budgets while affecting local artists in Japan.
The second most refreshing article of the day started when Eidlon emerged. Eidlon (meaning ‘appearance’) is a comic created by Babrus Khan, an extremely talented 21-year-old who previously worked as a storyboard and concept artist on Commander Safeguard at Post Amazers. Eidlon is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror yarn based on Aseroths (demons who dwell inside all living beings). Babrus’ inspiration and creativity looks promising and the title, if and when it is available, should be something to look forward to. Meanwhile, Syed Yousuf Ali presented Manga recommendations of the year. The titles included Death Note, Beserk, Gantz, Monster and Pumpkin Scissors among others. Some Anime music videos followed close after, with the concluding segment of Anime (and Manga). The convention came to a close after clarifying a few facts about local Anime sharing and the expansion of the network.With the dangerously infectious enthusiasm of the community steadily growing with a sensible purpose since its online days (there is a huge assembly at Orkut.com), the feeling of joining in and expanding Anime awareness isn’t a lost dream after all. It is an optimistic reality which has just one way to go. Up.
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